Idle thoughts – Unstructured musings from Joel Dunn…

More Chrome OS developments…

Today, Google introduced a new Chromebook. I’m quite interested in this development, as I think they’ve finally hit a price point that may help this to get traction in the market. In July, I wrote about my foray into using ChromeOS devices. I’ve been using both the Chromebook and Chromebox regularly since then. I’m typing this on the Samsung Chromebook 5 550, which has proved itself a very useful device.

My primary reaction to the Chromebook 5 550 was that while it was a great device, its price point of $449 made it pricey for the functionality restrictions of the Chromebook. Take this last statement with a grain of salt. Most things we do today are browser-based, and there are not many things I need to do regularly that I can’t do with the Chromebook. However, at a price point of $249, one begins to wonder if the added complexity of a regular laptop is compensated by the added functionality. Again, the key is to think about what you do, not what you might do.